


Stand Strong and Hold Your Own

by atreacherousoldwitch



Series: Won't you please come get your baby? [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Missing, Oneshot, Quidditch Player Ginny Weasley, auror!Harry, sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25186654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atreacherousoldwitch/pseuds/atreacherousoldwitch
Summary: With the summer coming to an end, and Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny still missing, the Weasleys try and rally around their cousins.Or: where Rose tries her hand at comfort, isn’t super great at it, and is selfishly grateful that her own parents are still where she can find them.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & Rose Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Series: Won't you please come get your baby? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722256
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Stand Strong and Hold Your Own

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - so this is a little ‘missing scene’ from ‘Won’t you please come get your baby?’ If you read this first, just know that Harry and Ginny are missing, and (at this point) we don’t know why. 
> 
> This is from Rose’s perspective, because in ‘Won’t you please come get your baby?’ we don’t get to see a huge amount of what’s going on with Albus and Rose, because Lily Luna doesn’t really get involved with them. I thought it would be interesting to focus on Albus a bit more and his friendship with Rose. 
> 
> Title comes from the Brian Fallon song ‘When you’re ready’ which is just a really lovely song about family and children growing up. 
> 
> Enjoy!

————

It’s not until she hears her dad crying in the kitchen after her parents think she’s gone to bed, that Rose realises the situation with Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny is serious.

It’s been a weird two weeks.

She’s mostly been allocated Albus to support, because unlike her relationships with some of her other cousins, her and Albus are _actual_ friends, so she holds his hand and lets him ramble on about whatever topic he’s interested in that day with out interruption or snide comments. Listened to what he’s not saying between what he is, but she’s fairly fluent in Albus speak now so that’s easily done.

She braids Lily-Lu’s hair every evening before bed, and tucks her in at the Burrow as best she can.

But somehow through all of this, she just assumed that Harry and Ginny would be found, somewhere, and soon. They’re going to Hogwarts in just under a week, and it hasn’t even occurred to Rose that they wouldn’t be back by then.

Rose knows that they’re missing. But she hadn’t realised that ‘missing’ meant ‘not going to be found’. That ‘missing’ meant ‘gone’.

That ‘missing’ maybe means ‘dead’.

It’s late. Nearly half past eleven, and they’re back in their own house for the night. They’re more or less alternating between here and the Burrow, so as to give the Potters their space, but to not leave them alone with Nanna and Grampy for _too_ long.

She’s been pottering around, idly flicking through books, listening to music, with her lights dimmed and everything quiet and sleepy. Hugo went to bed hours ago, but she can hear her parents still moving around as they get ready for bed.

She gets up to get some water, and heads downstairs but when she rounds the corner to the kitchen door she comes to a stop, and hovers awkwardly.

Her parents are embracing, which isn’t that unusual really, but this is different. Her dad’s sitting down, and her mum is standing. Ron’s resting his forehead against Hermione’s throat, head tucked under her chin. Hermione's hands are stroking the hair at the back of his neck, and she’s making little ‘shh, hush’ nosies through her teeth and Rose realises with a panicked jolt that her dad is _crying._

He’s not sobbing or anything, but she can see now his breathing is hitching and uneven.

_Oh my god._

Rose ducks back out of sight of the door, and tries to slow her heart. This doesn’t mean anything, not really. Except she’s never seen her dad cry like this. He cried when Hugo was born, but that was accompanied by a huge grin, and he cried when she broke her arm and they were in hospital for three days but that was watery eyes caused by lack of sleep and a little bit of relief.

This is something else.

‘It’s going to be ok’ Hermione is saying softly, rocking them back and forth gently, ‘we’ll find out what’s happened. We’ll find them.’

‘There’s nothing’ Ron sighs, ‘there’s nothing to find, no suspect, no evidence. If I didn’t know them as well as I do, I’d say they’ve run away somewhere. They’re just vanished.’

‘I know, I know.’

‘What are we going to do? God, their _kids.’_

‘We’re going to carry on, ok? We keep looking, we do whatever we can, and the kids go back to school in a week, and we just keep moving forward. We will find something. Wizarding missing persons cases rarely close with no evidence at all. The odds are that we _will_ find something.’

Ron sighs again, pulls his head back and wipes his eyes.

‘And you haven’t slept for two days’ Hermione says gently, ‘that’s making a bad thing seem even worse. Try and get some rest and things will seem brighter. We’ll go back to the Burrow tomorrow, see how the kids are getting on.’

‘Apparently they had a massive fight the other day. Well, Jim and Lulu did. I don’t expect Al did any shouting.’

‘Thats normal, it’s a stressful time and they’re just responding to that.’

‘They’re so young’ Ron says, ‘and I know that Harry was younger when he lost his parents, but it’s just not fair that Harry and Gin are _gone.’_

‘We will find them,’ Hermione says, and she holds his face in her hands and looks him dead in the eye, ‘We will, it’s going to be ok, you have to believe that.’

Ron nods and then they kiss gently, and Hermione pulls him back in and wraps her arms around him again.

Rose tip toes back up the stairs, and forgoes the glass of water.

She sits on her bed, and feels _something_ well up in her chest, worry, panic, stress, and she swallows it down hard.

This may be a bigger problem than she thought.

————

It changes the way that she looks at Albus the next day.

Before, he’d been her friend whose family was going through a difficult time. Now, he’s her friend who is, potentially, an orphan.

It makes her awkward and nervous around him. The second time she stumbles over her own tongue he bumps her gently with his shoulder and says ‘what’s up with you?’

But he’s not stupid. He can see it in her face. For all that he’s not good at emoting himself, he’s very good at spotting emotions in others. He takes her stressed sorry gaze in his stride, and gives her a small smile.

They spend the day hiding round the back of the shed and eating snacks stolen from Nanna’s kitchen drawer until Grampy comes to find them for dinner.

————

From then on, Rose takes in upon her self to see to Albus’ welfare.

She brings him books she thinks he might like, and makes sure to save his favourite snacks for him. She shouts a Dominique when she’s being a pain, and glares at Louis and Fred and Hugo if their teasing goes too far, and Albus doesn’t say anything but that’s ok.

————

The thing with Albus, is that they’ve always been paired together because of their age, but they weren’t really friends until they left for Hogwarts, and were paired up for a transfiguration project in their first term. They ended up with a small group from all houses, and they realised that they had more in common than they’d thought.

Albus is stony faced, at all times. He’s the friend she relies on in a crisis - sturdy and reliable and calm. He’s also sneaky and sarcastic and clever, more clever than he lets on, but sadly not enough people see that side of him. He’s precise, always says exactly what he means, and always does what he means to do. It makes him the odd one out of his siblings, who rush from one impulsive decision to the next, and it took a long time for Rose to recognise this strength in him. But when she did, she feels like she’s been given a gift.

Rose is _odd._ And sadly she knows it. She likes things that are precise, but she doesn’t feel the need to make them so. She’s not loud, has never had to be, being the oldest sibling. She’s clever but not hugely motivated, she can hold her own with Dominique and Molly, but it doesn’t come naturally, and they clash more often than not. She likes being involved in whatever half arsed plan her cousins comes up with, but she can always see how it’s going to go wrong, and she always knows how she’s going to get herself out of it.

Rose and Albus’ friendship has never come easy. But, somewhere between playdates as babies, and their fourth year at school, Rose thinks that he might actually be her best friend. And yes, it’s a bit sad that her best friend is her _cousin,_ but she has so many of them that really, it was inevitable.

————

It’s Rose’s idea in the end. Something that she feels smug about for days afterwards.

It’s two days before they go back to school, and it’s hot. The type of hot that sucks all the moisture out of the air, and scalds the inside of her nose. Hermione and Ron are at work, so her and Hugo are at the burrow with the Potters, and Teddy’s popped around for the afternoon, and they’re all overheated, listless, and bored when she says:

‘I’ve had an idea’

‘Shocking’ is Albus’ dry response, and Lily-Lu snorts from where she’s lying under the fan.

‘I’ve had the best idea ever’ Rose says,

‘Impossible’ is James’ response, ‘the best idea ever was when we stuck feathers to the garden gnomes and made them race.’

Rose considers that for a second and then nods, ‘that’s a fair point, actually. I’ve had a great idea then: let’s go down to East Water lake for the afternoon and go swimming. We’ll take the floats and some food and camp out there until its cooler.’

There’s a pause, and it’s not filled with any particular excitement or energy. And Rose knows why. To get to East Water Lake you have to hike twenty-five minutes south of the Burrow, and go and up and over a huge hill. It’s a struggle, but ‘It’ll be worth it once we’re there, no one else will be there and we can cool down and swim. And then we can have ice cream on the way back.’

She glances up at James, and sees his face, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. It’s well known that her cousin will do almost anything for a mr whippy ice cream.

‘It could be fun’ Lily-Lu says slowly, ‘we could jump off the rocks and practice doing flips.’

‘If we take the big floats and the pallets we can float in the middle of the lake’ Albus adds, and he sits up slowly. A small grin starts to spread across his face, and it lightens him, makes him seem younger and brighter, and Rose knows that she’s won. Once Albus sets his mind on something, it usually happens, and he’s more than able to persuade his siblings into doing it. And usually, they don’t even know they’ve been persuaded into something. He’s truly sneaky. And manipulative, actually, but he only uses his powers for good. Mostly.

Besides, Dominique and Molly never actually realised Albus and Rose were behind the chewing-gum-hair saga of last summer.

‘Lets go’ Albus says, but James groans into the sofa.

‘Buts it's so far’ He moans, and Albus grabs a tea towel from the sideboard and twists it around and around. He stands over James who’s sprawled on the sofa. He raises it threateningly.

‘We’re going to go to the lake’ Albus says,

‘No’ is the response, and Albus brings the tea towel back and flicks it at James’s belly, and it makes a loud smacking noise and James yelps.

The rest of them laugh.

‘We’re going to go to the lake’ Albus says again, and James brings his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them,

‘Don’t hit me!’ he cries, but Albus brings the tea towel back again and cracks it again.

It’s all noise and very little impact, but James yells out and groans.

Hugo hops up from where he’s been lying on the floor, and jumps on James, who lets out a genuine cry of surprise and pain.

‘Lets go to the lake’ Hugo shouts, and James capitulates easily and holds his hands up.

‘Ok ok, lets go to the lake. As long as Ted’s happy to come with us’ 

They all cheer. Teddy’s a push over. He’ll come with them.

————

It takes almost 40 mins to get them all ready. They find swimsuits and flip-flops, Nanna makes them some food and packs it into rucksacks, they argue about which floats to take and whether its worth taking the big pallet in this heat (they decide no - Teddy has the deciding vote as he’s the one who’ll be carrying it) and then they set off for the lake.

It is a struggle, and they have a wobble half way there when Hugo trips over and gets a splinter in his hand, and they almost abort the mission to head home and get it sorted. But Hugo wants to go swimming, and Albus sits on the dusty road with him for 15 minutes and gently scratches his palm until the splinter comes out and then they press on and when they get over the crest of the hill and see the lake it is worth it.

They’re rejuvenated and they run down the hill, James nearly gets hit by a car when they cross the road, and then finally they’re at the lake. 

Rose strips off her shorts, and is the first one in.

It’s _blissful._ She floats up and tips her head back getting her hair wet and feeling the cool water wash away the sweat and dust from the journey. She ducks under the water completely, everything is blurred and muffled and she blows bubbles out in front of her. When Rose breaks the surface again, she wipes water out from her eyes, and sees the others. Ted has Hugo under his arms, so she doesn’t have to worry about her brother (he’s not the best swimmer), and Lily-Lu has always been sporty so she’s already swimming for the deck that stretches out into the middle of the lake.

James jumps in, and in seconds is racing after Lily-Lu and he grabs his sister dunking her under the water and she lets out a shriek. And Albus -

It breaks her heart so goddamn much because he’s pulled his shirt off and is stood in his trunks but he hasn’t jumped in yet. He’s just watching with that small fond look on his face, and she wishes there was a way that she could bring his parents back, find them wherever they’ve gone but she can’t, all she can do is this; so she swims up to the edge of the lake and looks up at him and holds out her hand.

He sits on the edge and takes her hand and lets her pull him in. Together they catch up with the others.

————

They stay at the lake for hours, until the sun starts to set and the air is finally cooler.

They’ve spent the day jumping off the deck, and then she, James and Albus think the deck is too boring, so they run up around the lake up the cliffs that run along one edge and spend the next hour jumping from higher and higher, doing flips and dives.

They eventually tire out and end up lying on towels on lake’s edge. They do handstands and cartwheels and leap frog over each other, and Teddy buys them all ice cream and they eat it sat on the edge with their feet in the water.

The sky darkens so Teddy lights torches and sticks them in the sand and they cast bright pink and blue and purple lights over the sand.

They end up sprawled on the floor, again, teasing and poking fun, and Albus rests his head on Rose’s shoulder and mutters ‘Thanks Rosie’, and it doesn’t make everything ok, but it does make it a bit better.

Nanna shouts at them when they eventually get home, because they’ve missed curfew by two and half hours, but her dad’s sat at the table and his mouth is twisted in the way it does when he’s trying not to laugh. When Nanna finally calms down and sends them to wash and eat Ron scoops Hugo up on his hip and ruffles his bouncy curly hair, and he reaches out and pulls Rose in too.

She feels guilty, immediately, but when she glances over to the living room Arthur has settled himself on the sofa and pushed away his knitting, and he’s got Albus on one side, and Lily-Lu on the other, and Teddy has his arm thrown around James’ shoulders, and you know what?

It’s actually ok.

————

The day before they go back to Hogwarts, Rose is sat around the breakfast table with her parents. Her mum is reading some work papers and her dad is doing the crossword, and Rose imagines what it would be like if they just vanished into thin air and she feels sick. So even though she’s fourteen, _nearly fifteen,_ she scoots closer to him and she rests her head on his shoulder.

Ron raises his eyebrows. She’s not typically affectionate anymore, she endures hugs and kisses rather than instigates them, but she’s very aware of the fragility of everything in a way she hasn’t before. Ron shifts and lifts his arm and tucks her close to him.

‘Ok Rosie?’

‘Yeah, I’m ok’

Hermione looks up from her papers, and her dark eyes are wide and curious, and Rose is grateful to have the family she does, even if she doesn’t always show it. Hermione knows, in that creepy way that mothers do, and she reaches out and takes Ron and Rose’s hands in hers.

‘Everything will work out’ she says, with that quiet confidence that Rose’s mother just exudes, even here in her pyjamas and hair piled on her head, ‘you just have to believe it. It’ll work out’.

Ron kisses the side of Rose’s head, and she just hopes that her mum is right.

After all, Hermione usually is.

————

END. 


End file.
